What If?
by ravenclawkittykat
Summary: What if there was a fifth Hogwarts founder? What if the Room of Requirement was once much more than it seemed? And what if the descendant of the fifth founder is the most important witch of today?
1. Chapter 1

Evelynne looked down the long table at the edge of the Great Hall. Next to her was Rowena, with her black hair and black eyes contrasting beautifully against her pale skin. On the other side was Helga, whose short, auburn bob was bouncing as she elbowed Godric. He had messy, ginger hair and bright blue eyes. Salazar was sitting next to Evelynne, his dirty blond hair sleek and neat, green eyes sparkling despite his frown. Evelynne had always thought herself rather plain in comparison- bushy brown hair, plain brown eyes and an abundance of freckles. She made up for it with amazing skill in most areas of magic, though.

"So, does anyone have any ideas?" she asked, pushing the plan of the castle into the centre. There wasn't much time left to organise what was left to do.

"Dungeons," said Salazar bluntly, leaning over to take the plan and colouring in a large room in the dungeons green. Evelynne smiled. At least that wasn't a last resort any more.

"I want the tallest tower!" Rowena and Godric both stated in unison, grabbing the plan from Salazar. They would have torn it in half if Helga hadn't snatched it from between them.

"Neither of you can have it. We're using it for Astronomy," she said, outlining the star drawn on the room on top of the tallest tower. Helga wasn't about to be argued with. Although she loved and taught Herbology, she was also passionate about Astronomy, and a disregard for Helga's passions led to her getting angry, which was a truly terrifying sight.

"I'll take the North Tower, then. You know, the one by the lake," Rowena said, taking the plan and colouring in her chosen room blue. Godric sighed.

"Honestly, you girls always get the best stuff. I'll take the East Tower, but only if we rename it Gryffindor Tower," Godric compromised, and everyone nodded.

"I like it by the kitchens. It always smells nice," Helga told them dreamily, colouring in a large room by the kitchens yellow. Evelynne thought for a minute- or rather, pretended to think, as she had already secured herself a common room.

"The big room on the seventh floor. It's very roomy in there," she said matter-of-factly. Everyone went silent. This was possibly the least special place in the whole castle.

"Well, let's go decorate. We only have a couple of days!" Evelynne said, wanting to get out of the awkward situation she had placed herself in. She rose with the other four founders and left to her common room. Evelynne had always found it funny that no one had noticed the absence of the large, purple door over the last few weeks. It was now just an unusually long stretch of empty wall, if you did't know what you were looking for.

 _I want to go to the Granger common room, I want to go to the Granger common room, I want to go to the Granger common room._

As she thought it, Evelynne watched the violet doors appear, a white rose engraved in it. She pushed the door open and found the large room, bookshelves lining the walls, shrunken furniture that looked like toys dotted around the room. Between the two white marble arches that led to the boys' and girls' dormitories sat a large cupboard with spare equipment and textbooks, for students who had run out or lent theirs to a friend. Evelynne flicked her wand, and the desks, chairs, armchairs and sofas grew to their usual size. Another flick, and a small library's worth of books flew onto the shelves. A final flick, and a large store of wood appeared next to the unlit fire place, ready for the 1st of September. Evelynne had always thought that paintings and tapestries should be hung by hand, and she hung a large tapestry of a white horse, her house mascot, on an empty wall, and a noticeboard on another. She had already prepared the dorms, so she made her way back down to the Great Hall, where the other four were already sat, finishing off the decorations for the first day of school. Salazar was placing snake-patterned goblets and plates on his house table, Helga was hanging flags with the house mascots above the staff table, Rowena was filling the house point hourglasses with gems and Godric was setting the staff table.

"Anything I can do to help?" Evelynne asked, looking around the hall in awe.

"Just get the Sorting Hat, if you don't mind. Then you can charm the ceiling, I don't want to leave that too late," Salazar instructed, and Evelynne rushed to his office to get the pointy hat that would sort the pupils into their houses. She placed it on the wooden throne they had found in the basement of the dungeons. It immediately sprung to life.

"Tomorrow, is it?" it asked in it's unusually loud voice.

"No, day after," Evelynne replied, beginning to cast the complicated invisibility charm on the ceiling.

"That's a shame. I really can't wait to sort those kids into their houses. Always fun, always amusing," it replied.

"Well, it's not much longer now. I've been waiting for September 1st for months," Godric chimed in.

"Yes. Not much longer now," Helga added, smiling into the distance.


	2. Cursing Ourselves

***1st of September***

"Is everything ready? Is the Sorting Hat in place? _Where_ are all the gems from my house hourglass? GODRIC!" Evelynne was panicking. Everything had to be perfect for the first day, when a whole school's worth of students would be joining. Godric had thought it would be funny to levitate all of her house gems out of the hourglass and dump them on her when she wasn't looking. It was amusing at first, but then Evelynne got mad.

"I swear, Godric, I have not worked my but off for 10 months, yes, _10 months_ , for the students to arrive to a hall full of purple gems. You will be cleaning that up, and if I see you messing around once more, I'll, well, you'll see," she raged, storming out of the hall. Why didn't he ever take anything seriously? He was an absolute nightmare. Evelynne couldn't get herself together. She sat down by the lake, muttering threats of bloody murder under her breath, when a soothing voice came from behind her.

"Yes, I know, he's an absolute nightmare. Impossible to work with. Trouble in human form."

"Don't repeat my mutterings, Sal," Evelynne retorted, turning around to face him. She wasn't expecting him to be so close, and she blushed slightly and turned back around.

"Better. Last time I found you this mad, you tried to deny muttering at all," he commented, sitting down more comfortably beside her. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Salazar pulling out the bright green grass and studying it in his fingers, Evelynne staring at the lake awkwardly. Why was he so hard to talk to? Why did she never talk to him? Why are we still here? These thoughts and others ran through their heads. Neither of them seemed to want to leave, but the silence was deafening. Someone needed to speak.

"Do you think the squid really will live 1000 years?" Salazar asked as he caught sight of a white shape in the water.

"If it's healthy," Evelynne replied bluntly, cursing herself for not turning this into a proper conversation. It was too late now.

"I just can't wrap my head around it. One creature staying alive for over 1000 years. It's amazing," he persisted, turning to look at her.

"I know, but I really should be going. I'm supposed to be organising compartments on the train, and it leaves soon," Evelynne replied, feeling a desperate urge to kick herself. She got up and swore under her breath as she walked out of the grounds. Why couldn't she just play it cool, instead of wanting to get herself out of every awkward situation? She caught herself and took a deep breath. She wasn't allowed to swear, there were going to be 11 year olds in her care. Once out of Hogwarts, she apparated onto the train station platform in Hogsmeade. The new, brightly painted Hogwarts Express was waiting for her to board before it set off on it's long trip to Kings Cross. If Godric didn't clean up that mess, she would be sure to make the number of Hogwarts founders go down to four. She didn't mind Azkaban. She had a pretty good wandless patronus anyway. Nothing would ruin this day.

* * *

Evelynne gazed blankly out of the window for most of the journey. She was still mad at herself for being so incredibly awkward. She couldn't help it though- she caused most of the situations. She was jolted out of her thoughts by the sudden appearance of many more buildings as the train entered London. She strengthened the Disillusionment Charm on the train. Muggles didn't have trains yet- it was a constant discussion at the Ministry whether or not we should show it to them. As they pulled into Hogwarts Dock, the platform near Kings Cross Square, she turned the train visible. Outside were thousands of excited looking students in their Muggle clothes, waiting to board the train. Evelynne stepped out of the staff carriage and spoke.

"Everyone, step away from the train. I am Evelynne Granger, one of the founders of Hogwarts. At school, you will know me as Professor Granger, nothing else," she began, pleased that the students were trying to make a good impression. They can't have been scared of her- she was barely older than some of them.

"Alright, I want all first years on first. Come forward in sixes, and I will find you a compartment in the first year carriage- that's **only** first years. Don't you pretend you're a first year, Tom!" she called out to the students as a cheeky boy who she knew. He was a black-haired, golden-eyed third year, although he could pass for a taller first year.

 _A Gryffindor if I've ever seen one_

Yes, Tom Weasley would most probably be in Gryffindor, but Hufflepuff was also an option. Despite his cheekiness, he was exceptionally kind and loyal.

 _Maybe Hufflepuff then._

* * *

After all of the new students were sorted into compartments, Evelynne returned to her lonely spot in the staff carriage. She had barely muttered a death threat, which had a bit more than the usual share of swear words, at the thought that Godric may have not cleaned up the mess yet, when a student burst through the door. It was a shy looking first year, a girl with long blonde hair and misty blue eyes.

"Erm, s-s-sorry to bother you, Prof-f-fessor, but some of the older b-b-boys are coming into the f-f-first year carriage," the girl stuttered nervously. Evelynne gave her a warm smile.

"Don't worry, erm, what's your name, sweetie?" she asked, getting up.

"Millie. Millie Stewart, Professor," replied the girl, a bit more confident now.

"Well, don't worry, Millie. I'll get them out right away," Evelynne finished, walking out of her carriage with Millie trotting along beside her. After a minute, they arrived at the first year carriage, where some boys were standing around in the corridors.

"Out!" Evelynne barked, motioning towards the 2nd year carriage, "Back to your carriage! Go!"

"They came into our compartment as well, Professor. I checked on the way to the staff carriage, they weren't in any others," Millie informed, making her way towards the front-most compartment. There were a couple of scared looking first year girls in it, as well as some older boys, among which, to not much surprise, was Tom. Evelynne hadn't stopped, but walked straight past, as if going to the drivers compartment. Millie slipped past the carriage, unnoticed.

"Professor, they were in there," Millie informed her.

"I know. I'm going to give them a fright- they think I've gone to see the driver," Evelynne whispered, to which Millie's face lit up. She hurried back into the compartment, and obviously told a rather convincing story about why she had taken so long, whatever she had said she was doing. Evelynne decided to have some fun with the troublesome 3rd years. They didn't know that the front-most carriage had a hidden window to the drivers area, which she was about to give them a fright through. All of the boys were facing away from it. Evelynne opened it, and put her finger to her lip at the first years, who obliged and carried on whispering between themselves.

"Out, you lot!" she said after a while. She had never seen anyone looking so startled since Salazar had told Helga he was putting a Giant Squid in the Black Lake. They quickly scrambled out and Evelynne winked at the girls. She had a feeling Millie would be in Granger- and none of her feelings had ever been wrong before.


End file.
